Dubai: Teams that qualify for the second Shuttle Time Dubai Schools Championships later this month will get the chance to meet one of India’s star badminton players Kidambi Srikanth, it was announced on Monday.
The news has seen youngsters redouble their efforts in ongoing training sessions at Shuttle Time Training Centres across the emirate.
World No.5 Srikanth, 22, made the semi-finals of last year’s Dubai World Superseries Finals at the Hamdan Sports Complex last year before losing to eventual champion Chen Long. But he made up for it by winning the Yonex Sunrise India Open in March this year.
Following the success of the first Shuttle Time Dubai Schools Championships held in April, over 400 students from across Dubai will take part in the second edition. The boys championship will be held on October 17 and the girls event will be played on October 24, both at the Salahuddin Sports Hall in Al Mamzar.
The top six boys and girls teams will then join the winners of the Emirati Challenge to contest the final which will be held on Wednesday 27 October.
Participants in both the April and October Schools Championships will also enter the Shuttle Time Dubai Schools Rankings, and the top ranked players will be invited to compete in a season ending finale at the Hamdan Sports Complex at the time of the Dubai World Superseries Finals, December 9-13. Players who qualify for the finale will also receive coaching from Peter Gade.
The Shuttle Time Dubai Local Training Centres were launched in August, with the Badminton World Federation (BWF) secretary general Thomas Lund visiting the centre at Dubai National School last month. The sessions are conducted three times a week for 14 weeks by teachers who over the past year have undergone basic badminton teacher training before completing their BWF Level One Coaching accreditation in July.
Dubai Badminton Development Manager Jaffer Ebrahim said: “One of the key goals of the Shuttle Time Dubai grassroots development programme is to encourage participation in badminton in schools, so seeing so many children playing here under the guidance of the teachers and coaches trained as part of the programme is very pleasing.
“These centres will also serve as a talent identification and development pathways for local children and we are looking forward to seeing the early results of this programme at the upcoming Shuttle Time Dubai Schools Championships. The first Championships in April were a great success, and we are looking forward to another exciting competition. Of course the visit from Kidambi Srikanth is an added incentive for the children, we hope that meeting one of their heroes will inspire them to train even harder to be successful.
